Lee Enterprises, which owns the Wisconsin State Journal and about 50 other newspapers, announced (PDF) last week it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after it failed to renegotiate all of its debt.

However, the newspaper chain is excluding the Journal and the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona, from the filing.

State Journal publisher William Johnston says "There's no impact [on us] whatsoever because we're not included in the filing."

Johnston says he does not anticipate any cutbacks in the editorial department over the next year. A newsroom source says there have been no rumors of any layoffs.

According to news reports, Lee has been struggling with about $1 billion in debt since acquiring Pulitzer Inc., a chain that publishes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The chain expects to remain under Chapter 11 for only about 60 days.